Toronto flight remains absent from summer schedule too

HT Correspondent,
Amritsar

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Updated: Mar 25, 2013 21:06 IST

Passengers who have been looking forward to the resumption of the Amritsar-Delhi-Toronto flight will have to wait longer. The flight, which was suspended till March-end, will not operate till further notice by the national carrier.

The airport authorities confirmed that there is no mention of this flight in the summer schedule from March-end till October. "This implies that the flight may not operate till October-end," an Air India official said.

The Amritsar-Delhi-Toronto flight at Sri Guru Ramdas International Airport was a great success. With scores of Punjabis settled in Canada, it used to be always filled to capacity.

But it had to be suspended in May last year when Air India pilots went on strike. Air India authorities announced that the flight would be resumed in October. But the flight was further suspended till March.

The pullout of flights from this airport continues, bringing it an annual loss of Rs 55 crore. The latest to pull out was British Midland International, which discontinued its flight from Amritsar to London via Almaty.

"The suspension of the Amritsar-Delhi-Toronto flight has resulted in financial losses to the airport. With the flight unlikely to be resumed in the near future, the losses may add up," said airport director Suneel Dutt.